Creator The short version
- Good fit if your business runs on automation: multi-step sequences that branch on what people click, buy or visit, plus CRM-style contact records. Course sellers get integrations with Teachable, Thinkific and Kajabi on every plan.
- Skip it if you mainly send a newsletter. ActiveCampaign has no free plan, the entry plan caps automations at 5 actions, and the plans most creators would want cost more than creator-first tools.
- Price: starts at $15/month (Starter), $49 (Plus), $79 (Pro) and $145 (Enterprise), billed annually, for 1,000 contacts.
- Try first: a 14-day free trial with Professional-plan features and no credit card.
Start the 14-day ActiveCampaign trialAffiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy a paid ActiveCampaign plan, at no extra cost to you.
Who ActiveCampaign is for (and who should skip it)
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform first and a newsletter tool second. Its creators page pitches signup forms that trigger onboarding automations, limited-time offers that end automatically, and site tracking that shows which pages and videos people visit. That’s a strong match for:
- Course and coaching sellers who want students tagged, onboarded and upsold automatically.
- Creators with several offers who need segmentation by behaviour, not just by list.
- Small teams that want deals and pipelines alongside email (through a paid CRM add-on).
It’s a weaker match if you publish a weekly newsletter, want a free plan to start on, or have a large list of casual readers, because new accounts pay for every contact, including unsubscribed ones (more below). Our best newsletter tools for creators roundup covers newsletter-first options.
ActiveCampaign plans at a glance
From ActiveCampaign’s pricing page and help center. “Starts at” prices are billed annually for 1,000 contacts.
| Plan | Starts at | Users | Email sends / month | Automation | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $15/mo | 1 | 10× contact limit | 5 actions per automation | Email designer, forms (standard and inline only), up to 5 lists, site tracking, Shopify, WooCommerce and Square integrations. Max 25,000 contacts; existing customers don’t qualify. |
| Plus | $49/mo | 1 | 10× | Unlimited actions | Landing pages, site messages, PayPal and Stripe integrations, coupons and product catalog, custom-branded forms and pages, custom user permissions, CRM add-ons available. |
| Pro | $79/mo | 3 | 12× | Unlimited actions | Advanced segmentation, conditional content, predictive sending, recurring payments, automation A/B tests, attribution, priority support. |
| Enterprise | $145/mo | 5 | 15× | Unlimited actions | Premium CRM integrations (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics), unlimited inbox previews, SSO, HIPAA support, a dedicated team. |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Prices by contact count, monthly vs yearly
ActiveCampaign’s pricing page shows each plan’s per-month price billed annually once you pick a contact count; the yearly figures below are the ones it showed on October 7, 2026. The page doesn’t display monthly-billing prices, so those come from the price data it loads. Confirm your exact number in ActiveCampaign’s pricing calculator.
| Contacts | Starter | Plus | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $19 monthly / $15 yearly | $59 / $49 | $99 / $79 | $179 / $145 |
| 2,500 | $49 / $39 | $119 / $95 | $189 / $149 | $319 / $255 |
| 5,000 | $99 / $79 | $179 / $145 | $259 / $205 | $469 / $375 |
| 10,000 | $189 / $149 | $239 / $189 | $469 / $375 | $739 / $589 |
“Yearly” is the per-month cost of an annual plan (for example, Plus at 1,000 contacts is $588 a year). The smallest tier in the price data is 1,000 contacts, and Starter stops at 25,000. Every tier up to 50,000 contacts is in our ActiveCampaign pricing guide.
Check ActiveCampaign pricing for your listAffiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy a paid plan, at no extra cost to you.
How ActiveCampaign counts contacts
This is the detail most likely to change your bill. According to ActiveCampaign’s help center:
- Accounts created on or after November 3, 2025: every contact counts toward your limit, whatever its status (active, unconfirmed, unsubscribed or bounced).
- Accounts created on or before November 2, 2025: only active contacts count.
- At the limit, you can’t send email campaigns until you upgrade, and automations keep running but skip their “Send an email” steps. Your contact limit doesn’t rise on its own unless you turn on auto-upgrade.
- Email sends are capped at 10× your contact limit on Starter and Plus, 12× on Pro and 15× on Enterprise. If you’re at capacity and the limit isn’t raised, each send costs $0.005, and sending switches off until the next month if overage reaches three times your limit.
So if you’re joining now, deleting unsubscribed and bounced contacts is part of keeping costs down.
The free trial and the 30-day guarantee
The trial lasts 14 days, needs no credit card and matches Professional-plan features, with 1 user and up to 100 email sends. ActiveCampaign’s pages disagree on contacts: its FAQ says up to 100, while its help center (updated July 7, 2026) says as many as you need. Test emails go only to your own address, and the SMS add-on, landing-page domains and the preference center aren’t available on trials. You aren’t charged unless you upgrade, and you can request a one-time extension, though ActiveCampaign says it may not grant every request.
After you pay, a 30-day money-back guarantee applies to first-time paid subscribers: you can cancel and get subscription fees back within the first 30 days. Its terms exclude current or former paid customers, SMS and WhatsApp credits and one-time purchases, and ActiveCampaign can end the offer at any time.
Automation and CRM: what you’re paying for
- Automation builder with 950+ prebuilt recipes, multiple triggers and site tracking on every plan. Starter’s 5-action cap is the big limit; unlimited actions start on Plus.
- Segmentation grows by plan (limited on Starter, advanced on Pro, premium on Enterprise), and Pro adds conditional content and predictive sending.
- CRM basics (contact profiles, tags, custom fields) are on every plan. Deals and pipelines come with the Pipelines or Sales Engagement add-ons, available on Plus and above and priced separately.
- Email: a drag-and-drop designer, 250+ templates and scheduled, RSS-triggered and date-based campaigns on all plans.
- 1,000+ integrations, including Zapier on every plan.
Courses, products and payments
ActiveCampaign doesn’t host courses itself; it connects to platforms that do. Its app directory lists Teachable (bi-directional), Thinkific and Kajabi integrations as included with all four plans. The Teachable listing mentions student onboarding and upsell funnels. Kajabi’s integration creates contacts from Kajabi forms, with more actions through Zapier.
For selling directly, the Stripe and PayPal integrations start on Plus; Shopify, WooCommerce and Square plus abandoned-cart automation are on every plan. Coupons and the product catalog start on Plus, and recurring payments on Pro.
Downsides and watch-outs
- No free plan, and prices start at 1,000 contacts.
- Starter is limited for creators: 5 actions per automation, no landing pages, no Stripe integration, 1 user and up to 5 lists.
- All contacts count on accounts created since November 3, 2025, including unsubscribed and bounced ones.
- Overage fees apply if you send past your monthly cap.
- Add-ons cost extra: deal pipelines, SMS and additional users are priced separately.
ActiveCampaign vs MailerLite: the cheaper option for most creators
If you want automations, landing pages and paid newsletters but not a CRM or deep branching, MailerLite covers that for less. Its Comfort plan includes 50 automations, 10 websites and landing pages, and paid newsletters. These are the cheapest plans on each side that include landing pages and more than 5 automation steps:
| Contacts / subscribers | ActiveCampaign Plus | MailerLite Comfort |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $59 monthly / $49 yearly | $19 monthly / $17.10 yearly |
| 2,500 | $119 / $95 | $33 / $29.70 |
| 5,000 | $179 / $145 | $49 / $44.10 |
MailerLite prices checked on mailerlite.com/pricing, October 7, 2026 (yearly = per-month cost on annual billing, 10% off). ActiveCampaign yearly prices as shown on its pricing page (monthly prices from the price data the page loads), checked the same day.
ActiveCampaign earns its higher price with unlimited automation actions, CRM add-ons, site messages and, on Pro, predictive sending and revenue attribution. (Conditional content isn’t a reason to switch on its own: MailerLite lists dynamic, conditional email content on Comfort too.) If you won’t use those, MailerLite is the better value, and it has a free plan for up to 250 subscribers. See MailerLite pricing at every tier, MailerLite’s free plan or our MailerLite guide.
For the full side-by-side, with prices from 1,000 to 10,000 contacts and a worked contact-counting example, read MailerLite vs ActiveCampaign.
Try MailerLite freeAffiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy a paid plan, at no extra cost to you.
Comparing creator-first tools too? Kit’s Creator plan, which includes visual automations, is $33/month billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers on Kit’s pricing page; see Kit vs MailerLite.
FAQ
Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No. It offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card instead, and paid plans start at $15/month billed annually for 1,000 contacts.
Is ActiveCampaign good for course creators?
It can be, if you want automation-driven onboarding and upsells: Teachable, Thinkific and Kajabi integrations are listed on every plan. You’ll likely want Plus or higher for unlimited automation actions, landing pages and the Stripe integration.
Do unsubscribed contacts count toward the limit?
On accounts created on or after November 3, 2025, yes: all contacts count. Older accounts count only active contacts.
What happens if you go over your email send limit?
If your send limit isn’t raised, ActiveCampaign charges $0.005 per email send over it. If overage reaches three times your limit, sending switches off until the next month.
Is ActiveCampaign worth it over MailerLite?
Only if you’ll use what it adds: unlimited branching automations, CRM pipelines, site messages or Pro’s predictive sending and attribution. At 1,000 contacts, Plus costs $59 a month against MailerLite Comfort’s $19 on monthly billing.
Related reads
- Best newsletter tools for creators
- How to choose a newsletter tool
- Best email marketing for beginners
- MailerLite for creators · MailerLite pricing · MailerLite free plan
- Kit vs MailerLite
- All guides
Sources (checked October 7, 2026)
- ActiveCampaign pricing page: plan features, compare table, send multiples, guarantee, FAQ (yearly prices shown on the page; monthly prices from the price data it loads)
- ActiveCampaign pricing summary: “starts at” prices billed annually
- ActiveCampaign FAQ: trial terms, contact-limit increases
- Help center: free trial capabilities
- Help center: which contacts count
- Help center: reaching your contact limit
- Help center: email send limits and overage fees
- Help center: overview of plans and add-ons
- Money-back guarantee terms
- ActiveCampaign for creators page
- ActiveCampaign app directory: Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi and Stripe listings
- MailerLite pricing page: Comfort prices and features
- Kit pricing page: Creator price at 1,000 subscribers
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